Kosovo Needs International Protective Force,
and OSCE Long Term Presence

     Statement by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
     and affiliates from Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, and Greece

Kosovo Needs International Protective Force, and OSCE Long Term Presence

Statement by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
and affiliates from Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, and Greece

Vienna, 3 April 1998. Our organizations are alarmed by the deteriorating security situation
threatening all peoples in Kosovo and the surrounding region.

     President Milosevic's call for a "referendum" on the question of allowing international
mediation in negotiations on the political status of Kosovo, as called for the the Contact
Group, is an ominous signal, recalling similar gestures that preceded ethnic aggression in
Croatia and Bosnia. We consider that such a proposal is aimed at kindling flames of
nationalistic hysteria and xenophobic confrontation, as a prerequisite for increasingly
autocratic policies. At the moment when the possibility of serious negotiations seemed to
be taking hold, the IHF and affiliates are deeply concerned that Serbian politics have taken
a sharp turn toward ethnic chauvinism and national socialism.

     This development makes international involvement in reducing the threat to
international peace and security more crucial. We note the positive contributions to
regional peace and stability made by the UNPREDEP forces in Macedonia and the multi-
national forces in Albania. The IHF urges a similar international preventive force for
Kosovo - with a mandate and structure to be determined by the specific conditions in that
region that would serve to prevent a further deterioration of the peace. Acceptance of such
a force would signify Belgrade's willingness to cooperate with the international community.

     The IHF calls upon the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to promptly and
seriously respond to Contact Group demands by appointing a federal level negotiating
team that would enter negotiations with the Albanian side, which has already appointed its
negotiating team as demanded by the Contact Group within the provided time frame. The
IHF is of the opinion that viable and strong international mediation is indispensable to the
successful negotiating process about the settlement of the crisis in Kosovo.

     Despite its prompt response to the crisis, disunity and weakness in the response of the
"Contact Group" to continuing gross violations of human rights by Serb police units in
Kosovo have contributed to the deteriorating political situation, encouraging Serb hard-
liners and further discouraging Kosovo Albanians who seek a peaceful solution. The IHF
draws the attention to the Serbian special forces being reinforced in manpower and
weaponry including artillery pieces in the Drenica region, which have continued to keep
over 20 Drenica villages under a tight siege for over three weeks and seem poised to
attack the besieged Albanian civilian population. It is important to note that 22 Albanians
are still missing as a result of the Serbian interventions in Drenica and that 3 other
Albanians might be buried in the ruins of the devastated houses. There have been an
additonal 3 Albanian killed in the last large scale intervention of special forces in the
Dechan region bordering Albania, with Serbian propaganda accusing Albanians of having
been infiltrated from Albanian territory, thus threatening indirectly to involve Albania into the
picture and trigger a spill over of the potential conflict.
     Once again, as during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, international institutions
seem paralyzed by conflicting "national interests", and able to act only on the basis of a
lowest common denominator. As human rights organizations devoted by our Helsinki
mandate to preserving security and promoting democracy and the rule of law, we deplore
these tendencies which vividly illustrate weaknesses not only in our international system,
but in the commitment to common values proudly proclaimed in this 50th anniversary year
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

     We call upon the UN Security Council to reject the falsehood that the repression of
Kosovar Albanians is an "internal" issue; this hypocritical and self-justifying notion is
threatening the lives of all civilians in Kosovo.

     It contributes to the alienation of the people of Serbia from the international community;
it threatens to corrupt other nations where ethnic nationalists will see that they can
manipulate their people into war, while international institutions watch helplessly.

     The citizens of Serbia, subjected to violent anti-Albanian propaganda are deprived of
accurate information upon which to make choices affecting their future. In the IHF's view,
recent inter-ethnic political developments in Montenegro, demonstrate that policies of
incorporating national minorities can help ensure that the human rights of all individuals
can be respected and protected. These positive developments, as well as the very
existence of Montenegro, are still threatened by the Belgrade regime, and need to be
protected and encouraged. The destabilization of Montenegro would serve to create
another desperate situation, similar to that of Kosovo.

     We call upon the OSCE to reach out to the Serbian people; to insist, as part of any
program of cooperation with FRY, on public meetings to discuss the specific steps that
need to be taken, in order to re-integrate FRY in the Helsinki process. We recommend that
a large, professional OSCE field presence ought to be in place, to monitor and protect
human rights in the process of such a reintegration.  We call for the opening of a
European Union representative office in Kosovo and a long term mission of the OSCE.
Civil society and independent media in FRY desperately need support to help ensure that
all citizens have access to diverse points of view.
__________________________________

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is a non-governmental
organization which monitors compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki
Final Act and its follow-up documents. In addition to supporting and providing liaison
among 34 Helsinki committees, the IHF has direct links with human rights activists where
no Helsinki committee exists. It criticizes human rights abuses regardless of the political
system of the state where these abuses occur.
_______________________________________

Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority Rights Group - Greece
P.O. Box 51393     GR-145190 Kifisia     Greece
Tel. +30-1-620.01.20     Fax +30-1-807.57.67
e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr     http://www.greekhelsinki.gr